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February 26, 2010
Educators' and Students' Insights on Assessment and Accountability
Educational accountability systems, like No Child Left Behind and Minnesota's graduation standards, are predicated on the notion that they create expectations and incentives for educational achievement. At the same time, they have been used as "gatekeepers," identifying students deserving of promotion and/or diplomas and honors. Widespread failure on these assessments can lead to a number of different explanations. Perhaps the standards for what a student should know are inappropriately high. Perhaps the test was flawed. Perhaps the teachers and schools failed in their responsibility to prepare students. Perhaps the students failed in their responsibility to learn the subject matter.
Or, perhaps none of the above.
After interviewing 59 high school students and 20 educators from six schools, the Citizens League found that Minnesota's existing accountability system is not yet producing its intended consequences, despite concerted efforts by many people. It was clear, though not unanimous, that a new proposed accountability system called ACCESS would be a welcome step in the right direction.
Stacy Becker and Kim Farris-Berg headed this project on behalf of the Citizens League for the University of Minnesota, and they summarized the findings in this paper.
They are very interested in hearing what people think about these ideas, so Stacy asked that I put the article out here for you to read and comment.
What do you think?
Posted by Annie Levenson-Falk at February 26, 2010 12:47 PM